The invention system and related methods are directed to the automatic identification of fingerprints by video scanning and digitizing analysis of the scanned fingerprint, and to the general field of verification of the identity of a person to be identified, such verification being accomplished by comparing a non-minutiae digitized numeric identifier indicative of a fingerprint of a person to be identified with a numeric identifier recorded within the confines of a portable personnel identification means, personal to the person to be identified, which identification means can be of numerous kinds such as a retail credit card, a smart card, or others as set forth hereinafter. The numeric identifier of such portable personnel identification means is previously derived in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and then recorded within the identification means to enable identity verification, accomplished by comparison.
It is most desirable to have automatic means and methods for identifying human beings. Millions of individuals are checked on a daily basis by cumbersome and unreliable methods in banks, retail stores, classified areas, security environments, and by law enforcement officials. The problem of verifying the identity of an individual to a personnel identification card means held and offered as proof of identification by such individual, is one of the most common faced in the everyday duties of commerce, industry and government. Present day fingerprint verification methods are too time consuming and cumbersome to be expediently implemented into the civilian and military affairs of today's society. What is clearly needed is a means of, and methods for, providing automatic, rapid and positive verification of a person's identification.
The system invention, and the inventive methods utilized therein and related thereto, satisfy this long felt need for methods and means for providing automatic verifiable identification of an individual submitting him or herself for identification for the purpose of: retail credit card purchases, authorized entry, check cashing, obtaining a driver's license, showing proof of age via a driver's license, verification of the identity of a holder of a passport, etc.
A further great need is the development of such a system and methods for providing a verifiable fingerprint identifier which is most applicable to and recordable within a magnetic-stripe of a portable personnel identification card means, such as a magnetic stripe of a credit card. The least number of bytes within a verifiable fingerprint identifier, known to the inventors of the present invention, is a 400 byte numeric identifier developed by FINGERMATRIX. This known development is not at all applicable to a portable personnel identification card of the magnetic-stripe type for reasons well known to those skilled in this art.
The presently disclosed system invention and the inventive methods thereof fully satisfy this further need by providing a verifiable non-minutiae fingerprint identifier having but 24 bytes of fingerprint identification data which affords recordability to magnetic-stripe identification cards.
The invention includes the actual taking of an individual's fingerprint via an inkless means each time an identification is to be made. The print can be taken of any digit of a person, i.e. index finger or thumb or toe, and the image of a digitprint is video scanned to produce image data which is digitized in accordance with the teachings of the invention to produce a non-minutiae digitized numerical identifier indicative of the digit print image, and this digitized numerical identifier is compared with a numerical identifier read from an identification card means identifying the person to be identified, to verify the identity of that person.
Various other objects and advantages of the invention methods and system will be apparent from that set forth hereinafter, and some of the specific objectives of the invention are recited hereinbelow.